Welcome!

When it comes to parenting, cultural messages can be confusing, and parents wonder if it’s okay to acknowledge their mistakes—“what happens if my child knows I messed up? Will they still respect me?” Apologizing can be hard, and scary, but I encourage you to do it anyways!

While I’ve heard the term “family meeting” all my life, it was often in relation to someone being in trouble or there being a problem that parents had deemed out of hand and the meeting was called so that parents could voice their concerns and set expectations, or even scold. Such family meetings don’t sound fun at all. When I was trained in positive discipline, family meetings took on a whole new meaning. Instead of an experience reserved for the most pressing of problems, they became a way to connect, bond, give voice to all family members, teach problem solving skills, and have fun.

Glittery cards, jolly commercials, and social media snapshots have us believing that the holidays are always magical, always happy, and never lonely. For most of us though, the holidays are a mix of joy and sadness, belonging and strained relationships (among many other things). When you are grieving, the holiday season can heighten your sense of loss. It can bring painful reminders as well as opportunities to reminisce, strengthen relationships, revive old traditions or create new ones. Here are some things to consider if your family is missing someone this year.